Summary: A sermon about Who we can turn to in times of trouble.

One of the hardest questions to ever answer is the “Why?”. A person can go on for hours explaining his life away, and again the question can always be turned back to “Why?”.

Caleb has now entered into that phase. He’s becoming more and more curious about his surroundings, and what he can and cannot get away with. Inevitably, when faced with a barrier he cannot understand, the onslaught of “why” fills the air.

As adults, we too are left many times questioning the things around us. We’re often left shaking our heads, never fully understanding why things take place.

The hardest questions to find answers to is why a loving God would allow such tragedies occur in our lives, especially the lives of the ones who bear His name. Many questioned God when Ethel King came down with cancer. I asked God why Caleb had to get so sick with E coli, while the twin boys with the same kind walked away relatively healthy.

The only bad thing with the asking why is that we never really get an answer. If God were a sadistic tyrant, His answers could easily be “Why not?”. But He doesn’t do that. Vance Havner said, “God marks across some of our days, “Will explain later.”

While asking why may bring some people a small amount of comfort, I truly do not think that we’re looking for the right thing. I think that when more often we are looking for a sense of comfort instead of the answers.

Habakkuk, like many of us, actually stopped up and questioned God about what was happening to his people and his home. Unlike any of the other prophets, Habakkuk questioned God. He wanted to know why these things were going on. Also, like many of us, he missed something by asking that question.

Habakkuk’s Question:

Why Does God Allow Bad Things to Happen? (Ch. 1:2-4; 12-2:1)

Habakkuk wanted to know, just as we do, what God was doing and why. There seemed to be too much evil among the “righteous” and too much freewheeling power among the wicked. (Nelson Study Bible)

We look around at our world today, and we too ask “Why?” Where is God now? Why doesn’t He do anything? Are you still there God?

There’s something within our make up that questions God’s ability and reasoning. I don’t know about you, but I do not find very much comfort in the verse “ My ways are not your ways; and my thoughts are not your thoughts.” That does nothing for me when I want to know the answers. Apparently, that very comfort would not comfort Habakkuk either. He asked the same why question twice to God.

Biblical “Whys”

• If all is well, why am I like this? So she went to inquire of the Lord.—Rebekah, in Genesis 25:22

• Why did we ever come up out of Egypt.—the Israelites, in Numbers 11:20